MANILA, Philippines — A policeman was killed by a still unidentified assailant at a wake in Taguig City yesterday.

Pat. Ralph Calucag Aquino, assigned to Police Community Precinct 8 in Barangay Bagumbayan, died at the scene from a gunshot wound in the head.

He was picked up by a certain “Toto” from the house of a common friend to attend a wake along Paso street, police said.

While Aquino was at the wake, the assailant shot him and fled on foot.

Aquino’s alleged gambling habit – he was said to play the coin gambling game cara y cruz – could be among the motives for the attack, said Maj. Ramon Christian Laygo, city police investigation unit chief.

China has rejected as “unwelcome” the call of the United Kingdom, France and Germany on the South China Sea claimants to respect the arbitration ruling of 2016 and the rules-based framework laid out in the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).

The Philippines and China effectively consigned to limbo on Thursday the UNCLOS-based arbitral ruling in 2016 on their maritime disputes, and moved to explore instead a wider Code of Conduct for resolving conflicts in the South China Sea.

It would be a betrayal of public trust should the Duterte administration accept China’s rejection of the landmark ruling that invalidated its sweeping claim over the South China Sea, parts of which is the West Philippine Sea, former Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert Del Rosario said Saturday.